Should Games Put Us in More Danger?

"In modern experiences, the simple fact is that true feelings of danger are hard to come by. We’re given experiences with the ability to save anywhere, liberal checkpoints, and overall low difficulty, and in many ways, I wouldn’t trade this for anything. Given this, how can games at the very least achieve the illusion of putting us in grave danger at every corner?"

"A dream I have is a narrative-driven game in which death is always permanent, but the narrative always moves forward right up until the end. Given a single main character, players would begin by playing as usual, up until the point the character is killed, which could occur at any given time. Once that character was killed, he or she would be gone forever, and player control would move to a secondary character. Players would continue the narrative, moving from character to character. Kill everyone? That’s the end of your story, despite the many chances you were given."

Two things that would help me feel like I am in grave danger, which would ultimately improve the experience. One is character development. If I identify greatly or am in any way invested in a character, the idea of "danger" may concern me a bit more. But that goes hand in hand with consequences. If there aren't consequences to my actions, I won't feel like there is any danger at all.

Heavy Rain attempted both of these but failed miserably in the character development side. The characters weren't in any way believable and any relationships felt forced or rushed. Definitely consequences to my actions but I didn't care about the characters.

Mass Effect 2 is probably the only time I've really felt any sense of danger - one of the many reasons I think it is game of the year.